Kwanesum and the falls of Moffett Creek

[Splintercat]

Zach, I finally made the connection on why the big falls looks so familiar - it's quite similar in form to both Mill Creek Falls and Barr Creek Falls in the Rogue River canyon... Barr Creek, in particular:

Prospect Wayside (Barr Creek Falls)

Also, Anna points out that my ancient link to the Oregon Kayakers pages on the Salmon River Gorge is defunct (lots of cobwebs to tend to on those pages!). Here's the updated link:

Oregon Kayakers: Salmon River Canyon

The photos on their site are amazing!

Tom

[Stevefromdodge]

Mumble, mumble, gasp, mumble...

My first response and probably my next 12.

The world either needs a serious trail in here or a dedicated guide and training service.

Absolutely incredible place and equally good photos.

Thanks

[Don Nelsen]

Wow! Fantastic epic trip in all respects. You have upped the ante for trip reports to a very high level. Thanks for really putting upper Moffett on the map.

[JoeMtn.Goat]

Aight, finally got to some of the pictures from the trip. I'm going to try to post ones that are from a different perspective, although I have some that are similar to Zach's. Although first I'm going to start with some pics of Tish creek falls and Sorenson falls, since Eliza and I arrived in the Gorge a day earlier, we took the opportunity to check those out for the first time:

Tish creek Falls:

The bottom of the falls:

Sorensen falls:

The bottom of Sorensen:

Evan, with the first falls on Moffet Creek in the background:

The second Falls on Moffet:

There is a slide between the second and third falls:

The 3rd falls from the top, looking down that huge log:

The 4th falls, with Zach at the bottom of the rapell:

The 5th falls with Evan rapelling:

Another of the 5th falls:

The 6th, with Evan and Zach:

The 7th and largest, with Zach on rapell:

A little closer of basically the same shot:

This is a small falls, in the same ampitheatre as the big one:

Zach pretty much covered the rest.

I'd like to thanks Zach and Evan for the great trip, Great work! I have some other pictures I'll probably post later to my photo website and then just link it to here, but that's enough for now. Lemme know if you guys are looking into doing some more canyoneering and I'm in.

[chameleon]

Joe, thanks for posting these pics! I was really hoping someone got a photo of one of us rapping the "big" one! It helps to put it in perspective! It was a great trip - we'll have to get together soon for a Lindsay or Starvation Creek trip!
-Zach

[airdrum]

AWESOME

You Win , all of you, major win big time, that's just awesome, man.

Finally we have good documentation of Moffett Creek, possibly the most interesting stream in the gorge, and was yet totally unknown. Seeing the pictures of the ropes and rappels and gear etc reinforced for me that this is not a place I was meant to go, so luckily, by posting the report, you have relieved me of all regrets! Thanks! Although I'd certainly like to visit these places it will certainly wait till another time, plus you guys did such a great job of putting us there with you, it's just excellent.

Thank you guys for being so nice to put all the effort into getting this info out. Personally I like to think it only helps the area and the conservation cause. Also, now that we know what it takes, there is less likely to be some yahoos going in there unprepared and getting hurt.

Thanks again!!!

[Splintercat]

...are you saying that I'm a yahoo, Andy..?

Great photos, Joe -- the images of Zach rappelling the big falls are really nice! Hopefully, the folks who put up the Canyoneering NW site will wander by, and see what you've documented. They've done some recon in the Gorge, but nothing on this scale.

Tanner, Ruckel and Moffett were two of the least-documented canyons in the Gorge, until now. Very cool to see their secrets, and I agree with Andy that it helps the conservation cause. But there ARE more waterfalls to discover, of course!

I agree with Zach that Lindsay Creek has something to offer upstream, but the one that really intrigues me is Warren Creek. There was a report last year sometime of a falls upstream from the Starvation Ridge trail crossing, but this creek has an enormous drop from its headwaters... the ultimate canyoneering would be a trip from Warren Lake to the bottom of the former Warren Creek Falls. The last bit would be a dry rappel, but another "to-do" on my list is to head up to the base of the "real" falls next time we have a massive flood event to photograph water spilling over this:



I've poked around the dry falls several times, and am convinced that the tunnel diversion to "Hole-in-the-Wall Falls" is overwhelmed during major events, and the original falls is reborn. There's no other way to explain the debris and scouring in the flood channel, given that the diversion happened half a century ago.

Oops... getting off topic, here.... good work Zach, Joe & Co.!

Tom

[chameleon]

Tom,
I agree with you on Warren. This past summer I scoped it out from the top of Dog Mountain. From there it didn't look tremendously impressive...so I kind of put it on the back burner, but...looking at the map more closely I suspect that the big waterfall Joe and Eliza got up to at the 1200 ft point - though large, is probably not the largest falls on the stream! I suspect that somewhere between 2000-2400 feet there is a larger, even gnarlier falls. I'm certain that Warren will prove to be the most difficult canyon among the 4 in that area (Starvation, Cabin, Warren, and Lindsey). The geology looks more unstable than the others as well - with more slide areas visible from Dog. Definately a near future project!
As for Moffett, this summer I hope to really get in there and do it justice photographically. I feel like we just got some basic beta down on it at this point. There are so many neat small features and different angles to explore. For example, here is another photo of the 1st falls a bit further back.

On another Moffett note... Jamey had the idea of Illahee for a falls, and I think that Apocolypse (a nickname I gave the third falls on my first trip up to it due to huge recent slide activity and upheaval leading up to it) should be changed to Illahee. It's a much better permanent name going with the Chinookan derivations for Moffett's falls. Thanks Jamey! Hopefully Joe, Eliza and Evan will throw in some ideas for some of the others... each one on that stream is certainly worthy of some cool appelation!
BTW, has anyone done the whole of Harphan or Gorton creeks? Those look very interesting, especially Gorton!
-Zach

[pyles_94]

zach- joe has done gorton, at least most of it.... see here:
http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... f=10&t=971

heres the website i found that name on: http://www.cayoosh.net/hiyu/shaw.html
very cool website...just for the heck of it, heres another name to throw out: ooahut (means faucet, or spout)

oh yeah, and just so you know, cabin creek is the brushiest hell of a canyon i have ever seen. it took me half an hour to go about 150 yards, thats where i turned around. eww. it may have waterfalls on it, but i doubt anything very impressive....

[Sore Feet]

BTW, has anyone done the whole of Harphan or Gorton creeks? Those look very interesting, especially Gorton!

Getting a bit ahead of yourself aintcha? We haven't even finished Ruckel Creek yet!
I'm kind of surprised nobody has mentioned Grey Creek yet either. Looks like its probably no bigger than Cabin Creek, but I suspect its got a BIG series of falls on it. Probably damn near impossible to get up / down though.